Yesterday Jason Idalski won for the first time. Andy, by the way, will be doing a Q & A with him, so leave a comment with your questions. His challengers:
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| Jason |
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| Theresa Warner |
Yet another reminder from Mr. Trebek to “vote for your favorite Jeopardy! champion from our second decade on the air.”
Amanda liked the Variety of Veg category. I thought I got a triple-stumper in the category: “Smooth-leaf, baby, semi-savoy.” But Amanda’s response of “cabbage” was deemed acceptable at the break. She went 4/5 in the category then.
I swept The Celebrity Book Aisle.
At the first break (and after Amanda’s neg was reversed):
Jason 2800 (4 right)
Theresa 2400 (4 right)
Amanda 2800 (6 right)
Amanda said she has just become a U.S. citizen. She didn’t say where she is from!
I hope Andy asks Jason what he said when Mr. Trebek was speaking at the same time: “The winner was a _____ apparently.” Did anyone catch it? I listened a few times but it seems impossible.
Theresa found the Daily Double of the round, in The State Dept. Suggests You Stay Home.
Jason 2800
Theresa 3000 (2 right)
Amanda 2800
This category was a nightmare for me, and I wound up going 0/5. Theresa had gotten the first 2 in the category right. She wagered it all on this clue: “Hezbollah’s ‘strong presence’ & ‘shelling…from Syria’ are reasons to avoid this country.” I felt sorry for Theresa because Mr. Trebek gave one of his condescending-sounding replies when she was wrong. But who all knew this in the time allotted? The last 2 in the category were triple-stumpers.
I finished the round on a good note, getting this triple-stumper in Biosphere 2: “The biomes used to study biodiversity have names like desert, rainforest & this African grassland with scattered trees.” So at the end of the round:
Jason 3400 (2 right)
Theresa 1000 (2 right)
Amanda 4400 (3 right)
Theresa started Double Jeopardy strong, getting 4 of 5 in “Az” Usual.
Surprising triple-stumper of the day, in Weird Top 40 Hits: “In a top 40 classic from 1966 this ‘King of the Road’ warned us that ‘you can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd.'” Okay, the next one was just as surprising, in the same category: “In 1967 ‘Don’t Go Out into the Rain (You’re Going to Melt)’ charted for this ‘I’m Henry the Eighth I Am’ band.” And Mr. Trebek even did the accent!
Amanda eventually found the first Daily Double of the round in Irish Literature.
Jason 6600 (3 right)
Theresa 6600 (6 right)
Amanda 7200 (4 right)
She wagered 2800 on this clue so easy I couldn’t believe it’s supposedly the hardest, in the 2000 spot: “‘The Boarding House’ & ‘The Sisters’ are 2 of the 15 stories appearing in this 1914 James Joyce collection.” For real? Of course Amanda got it.
Jason found the next Daily Double after getting one right in Business. He had 7400 then while Theresa still had 6600 and Amanda still had 10000. Jason wagered 7000 on this easy one in the same category: “If it used the founder’s daughter’s given name, this restaurant chain would be called Melinda’s.” Of course Jason got it too. Mr. Trebek gave the less-than-a-minute warning.
I was glad we had time enough to see this triple-stumper in Weird Top 40 Hits: “You’ll be nibbling on bacon & chewing on cheese if you can name this beastly 1976 hit from the Captain & Tennille.” When I was a kid, I was at my uncle’s house when he and I heard this strange noise. We strained our ears til he finally said, “Oh, it’s that stupid muskrat.” Apparently a muskrat makes noise in the song! I haven’t heard the song any other time.
Unfortunately there were 4 clues left covered on the board.
Jason 15200 (2 right)
Theresa 8600 (2 right)
Amanda 10000
The Final Jeopardy category was Literary Locales. The clue is: “The creator of this title place said its name came from the letters labeling the last drawer of his filing cabinet.” I said what all 3 contestants did, but I knew it was wrong. Mr. Trebek said he even expected that response. Theresa lost 1801. Amanda lost 7201. Jason lost 4801, but it left him with enough to get him back onstage tomorrow. Til then!
My Coryat today was 26800 (29200 without negs).
